Wireless behavioral feedback for active lighting control

Abstract

A new apparatus, system, method and a computer readable memory are presented for lighting control using active wireless active feedback monitoring of behavioral activity of moving objects, for lighting control in an area of interest using, for example, a time dependence of a received signal strength parameter (RSSP) and a calculated standard deviation of the RSSP. Presence of moving objects (such as humans, pets/animals, cars and the like) within the range of an established wireless network tends to modulate the wireless signal strength between wireless nodes. Using the monitored variation in the standard deviation of the wireless signal strength between network nodes, behavioral activity of moving objects may be used to directly control ambient lighting conditions such as luminaire lumen output, color temperature, light distribution, and/or other lighting characteristics, based upon the level of behavioral activity of moving objects within an area of interest.

The invention claimed is: 
     
       1. An apparatus for monitoring one or more moving objects in an area of interest to control lighting in the area, the apparatus comprising:
 at least one wireless radio transceiver in the area configured to: 
 transmit one or more signals, and 
 receive one or more signals, each having reflected contributions from at least one of the one or more moving objects in the area; and 
 a controller of the at least one wireless radio transceiver, configured to: 
 analyze, for each of the received one or more signals, a time dependence of at least a standard deviation of a received signal strength parameter (RSSP) in reference to corresponding one or more threshold values for indicating a behavioral activity change of the one or more moving objects; and 
 adjust light characteristics of one or more lighting devices in the area, if the analysis meets a predefined criterion at least for one of the received one or more signals. 
 
     
     
       2. The apparatus of  claim 1 , wherein the adjustment of light characteristics includes adjusting at least a color temperature of the one or more lighting devices based on exceeding or not exceeding one or more threshold values by the standard deviation of the RSSP. 
     
     
       3. The apparatus of  claim 1 , wherein the adjustment of light characteristics includes adjusting a color temperature and a luminaire light value of the one or more lighting devices based on exceeding or not exceeding one or more threshold values by the standard deviation of the RSSP. 
     
     
       4. The apparatus of  claim 1 , wherein the adjustment of light characteristics includes adjusting a distribution of the one or more lighting devices. 
     
     
       5. The apparatus of  claim 1 , where an initial presence of at least one moving object among the one or more moving objects in the area is detected by analyzing any of at least one threshold value of the standard deviation of the RSSP and a further threshold value of the RSSP. 
     
     
       6. The apparatus of  claim 1 , wherein one of the one or more threshold levels is set such that a presence of at least one moving object is only detected in a near field within about 10 cm from the apparatus to adjust a corresponding non-contact switch for controlling at least one of the one or more lighting devices. 
     
     
       7. The apparatus of  claim 1 , where all transmitted and received signals are omnidirectional. 
     
     
       8. The apparatus of  claim 1 , wherein the at least one wireless radio transceiver comprises a smart lamp. 
     
     
       9. The apparatus of  claim 1 , wherein the at least one wireless radio transceiver comprises a plurality of directional receivers, each monitoring a different portion of the area for indication of the behavioral activity of the one or more moving objects, to adjust the light characteristics of the different portions of the area individually to include a light distribution among a plurality of lighting devices in the area. 
     
     
       10. The apparatus of  claim 9 , wherein the at least one wireless radio transceiver comprises a plurality of directional transmitters, each providing a transmitted signal for a portion of the area monitored by a corresponding receiver of the plurality of directional receivers. 
     
     
       11. The apparatus of  claim 9 , where the plurality of receivers are implemented as one receiver using one moving antenna to monitor the different portions of the area at different time instances. 
     
     
       12. The apparatus of  claim 1 , wherein one of the one or more transmitted signals is received by a further transceiver in the area, and the transceiver is configured to receive an acknowledgement signal from the further transceiver as one of the one or more signals having reflected contributions from the one or more moving objects. 
     
     
       13. The apparatus of  claim 12 , wherein the acknowledgement signal comprises values of RSSP measured by the further transceiver for the one of the one or more transmitted signals by the transceiver and received by the further transceiver. 
     
     
       14. The apparatus of  claim 1 , wherein one of the one or more received signals comprise one of the one or more transmitted signals after being reflected by at least one of the one or more moving objects. 
     
     
       15. A system for controlling lighting in an area of interest, comprising:
 a plurality of radio transceivers in the area, configured to receive a plurality of signals, one or more signals of the plurality of signals having reflected contributions from one or more moving objects in the area; and 
 one or more controllers of the plurality of the plurality of transceivers, configured to: 
 analyze, for each of the received one or more signals, a time dependence of at least a standard deviation of a received signal strength parameter (RSSP) in reference to corresponding one or more threshold values for indicating a behavioral activity change of the one or more moving objects; and 
 adjust light characteristics of one or more lighting devices in the area, if the analysis meets a predefined criterion against the one or more threshold values at least for one of the received one or more signals. 
 
     
     
       16. The system of  claim 15 , wherein one of the plurality of transceivers with one corresponding controller of the one or more controllers is active and configured to determine that an object has intruded into the area or a portion of the area, and to wake up other radio transceivers of the plurality of radio transceivers into an active state. 
     
     
       17. The system of  claim 15 , wherein one of the plurality of transceivers with one corresponding controller of the one or more controllers is a central computing device configured to provide the analysis for all of the one or received signals and to adjust the light characteristics of the one or more lighting devices in the area. 
     
     
       18. The system of  claim 15 , wherein each of the plurality of transceivers with a corresponding controller is configured to provide, autonomously, the analysis of respective received signals and to adjust the light characteristics of relevant lighting devices of one or more lighting devices in the area. 
     
     
       19. A method for monitoring one or more moving objects in an area of interest to control lighting in the area by an apparatus, the method comprising:
 transmitting one or more signals by at least one wireless radio transceiver of the apparatus; 
 receiving one or more signals, each having reflected contributions from at least one of the one or more moving objects in the area, by the at least one wireless radio transceiver of the apparatus; 
 analyzing, by a controller of the apparatus, a time dependence of at least a standard deviation of a received signal strength parameter (RSSP) in reference to corresponding one or more threshold values for indicating a behavioral activity change of the one or more moving objects; and 
 adjusting, by the controller of the apparatus, light characteristics of one or more lighting devices in the area, if the analysis meets a predefined criterion at least for one of the received one or more signals. 
 
     
     
       20. A non-transitory computer readable storage medium tangibly storing computer program instructions capable of being executed by a computer processor, the computer program instructions defining code for:
 transmitting one or more signals by at least one wireless radio transceiver of an apparatus; 
 receiving one or more signals, each having reflected contributions from at least one of the one or more moving objects in the area, by the at least one wireless radio transceiver of the apparatus; 
 analyzing, by a controller of the apparatus, a time dependence of at least a standard deviation of a received signal strength parameter (RSSP) in reference to corresponding one or more threshold values for indicating a behavioral activity change of the one or more moving objects; and 
 adjusting, by the controller of the apparatus, light characteristics of one or more lighting devices in the area, if the analysis meets a predefined criterion at least for one of the received one or more signals.